SEWARD, Neb. — No. 9 Dakota Wesleyan Women’s Basketball began its weekend of competition at the Cattle Classic Invitational against one of the NAIA’s other top-ranked teams in MidAmerica Nazarene, who came into the contest ranked 13th in the country.
The Tigers opened the contest with offensive momentum, outscoring the Pioneers 9-7 through the first 10 minutes. DWU was led mainly by Emma Yost, who posted a team-high of 11 points throughout the contest, alongside two boards to help the team in the paint. Jaida Young and Avery Broughton led the team in rebounds with eight each and were aided by Rylee Rosenquist off the bench, who posted seven boards of her own and contributed seven points to the tally before fouling out in the final three minutes of the contest.
Overall, DWU out-rebounded MNU 43-35 by the end of the game, but the scoring efficiency for the Pioneers began to show as the contest continued. The contributors for the Tigers kept DWU in the lead for a good portion of the second period, but a late-half scoring run by MidAmerica Nazarene put Dakota Wesleyan on the back foot going into half at a 24-20 deficit.
The second half of the competition saw the Pioneers gain serious offensive momentum, and when combined with the increase in fouls from the Dakota Wesleyan, gave MNU a serious advantage rolling through the second half of play. Even so, the Tigers continued to battle back, with Shalayne Nagel and Taliyah Hayes adding points to the board, scoring seven and five points each, respectively. Maleighya Estes contributed off the bench for DWU as well, putting up three points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
The added efforts helped keep the third period close, with the scoring split being in favor of MNU, 14-12, but the fourth period saw the Pioneers separate from the Tigers. Dakota Wesleyan went through a six-minute scoring drought as MidAmerica Nazarene continued to put pressure on the DWU defense, ultimately outscoring them 24-7 in the final 10 minutes. The Tigers would ultimately fall to the Pioneers by a score of 62-39. MidAmerica Nazarene went 20-52 (38.5%) from the field while Dakota Wesleyan went 16-59 (27.1%), and MNU outscored DWU 15-4 at the free-throw line.
DWU Women’s Basketball will be back in action tomorrow, November 8th, against No. 18 Arizona Christian at 10:00 AM.